WITHOUT FAILURE, JORDAN WOULD BE FALSE IDOL

Eric ZornCHICAGO TRIBUNE

These words--they are almost a poem--belong on posters in schools and kids' bedrooms everywhere:

I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career/ I've lost almost 300 games/ 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot/ and missed./ I've failed over, and over and over again in my life./ And that is why/ I succeed.

You may recognize them from the script of a current Nike commercial showing Jordan exiting his car under the United Center and entering the arena. The spot may or may not be a good way to sell shoes, but it's a great way to promote a critical and often overlooked truth about failure and its integral relation to success.

Those who are afraid to fail will coast though life and never come close to their potential. Failure--honest failure despite genuine effort--is an underrated teacher and motivator as well as a sign that one is striving at close to full capacity.

If you're not failing from time to time, you're not pushing yourself. And if you're not pushing yourself, your life, when you look back on it, is destined to be a sorry litany of mightas and couldas.

Of all the ways this sentiment has been expressed by great writers and thinkers through the ages ("A man's reach should exceed his grasp . . ." and all that), none is likely to resonate in our culture as well as this formulation by Jamie Barrett, who wrote the ad.

Barrett's words, reproduced above with line breaks supplied by Nike, were "the result of conversations with Jordan," said Nike spokeswoman Vizhier Corpuz. "They reflect exactly how Jordan feels."

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Those of you who thought Jordan wrote the words himself are probably the same people who think Jordan gets his driver's license like everybody else, as he does in a current and very cute Chevrolet commercial.

The spot shows Jordan in an Illinois secretary of state license facility going through the paces--taking an eye test, having his name called out by a clerk, cheating (so it seems) on the written test and having a dopey picture taken.

It's odd to think of Michael Jordan needing an ID. Couldn't he show a cop a Wheaties box or something? But every driver must be licensed, even if he is someone whose silhouette is recognized all over the planet; even if he is so beloved it probably would touch off a near riot if he were to get in line along with the hoi polloi.

Indeed, secretary of state spokesman John Torre said hundreds of curious onlookers gathered outside the driver's license facility in suburban Niles on the Columbus Day holiday based on the mere rumor--it turned out to be true--that Jordan would be coming to shoot the driver's license commercial.

When Jordan last renewed in real life, in March of 1995, Torre said, state employees took testing and photo equipment and met Jordan in a hotel room. The mobile equipment is usually used to provide ID cards and other services for shut-ins.

The need for such special treatment is so rare--Oprah Winfrey and actress Darryl Hannah were the only two other examples of VIP license renewal Torre could think of--that Illinois has no standard procedure. In contrast, the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which processes hundreds of celebrities every year, allows for by-appointment renewals and makes arrangements for those who feel the need to enter and leave license offices through alternative doors, a spokeswoman said.

Most big shots in Illinois renew alongside everyone else. Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Mike Ditka, Bears owner Mike McCaskey . . . they and many other North Shore notables have walked into the state facility in Deerfield and waited their turn, manager Nick Foutis said. Sometimes, he said, he waves them to the front of the line for everyone's sake.

Even Jordan, in his early years with the Bulls, once showed up right at closing time and peered in the window as though fearing he was too late. "Someone said, `Hey, that's Michael Jordan!' " Foutis said. "We got him through very quickly, I'm proud to say."

In the end, the photo is the great leveler. No one gets to supply his own. Everyone has to live with the handiwork of the state's picture-takers who, Jordanlike, have failed to make us look good over and over and over again.

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More behind-the-scenes details on Jordan commercials at www.chicago.tribune.com/zorn/